Chemical enrichment in very low-metallicity environments: Bootes I

We present different chemical evolution models for the ultrafaint dwarf galaxy Bootes I. We either assume that the galaxy accretes its mass through smooth infall of gas of primordial chemical composition (classical models) or adopt mass accretion histories derived from the combination of merger trees with semi-analytical modelling (cosmologically-motivated models). Furthermore, we consider models with and without taking into account inhomogeneous mixing in the ISM within the galaxy. The theoretical predictions are then compared to each other and to the body of the available data. From this analysis, we confirm previous findings that Bootes I has formed stars with very low efficiency but, at variance with previous studies, we do not find a clear-cut indication that supernova explosions have sustained long-lasting galactic-scale outflows in this galaxy. Therefore, we suggest that external mechanisms such as ram pressure stripping and tidal stripping are needed to explain the absence of neutral gas in Bootes I today.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

On the link between nuclear star cluster and globular cluster system mass, nucleation fraction and environment

We present a simple model for the host mass dependence of the galaxy nucleation fraction ($f_{nuc}$), the galaxy's nuclear star cluster (NSC) mass and the mass in its surviving globular clusters ($M_{GC,obs}$). Considering the mass and orbital evolution of a GC in a galaxy potential, we define a critical mass limit ($M_{GC,lim}$) above which a GC can simultaneously in-spiral to the galaxy centre due to dynamical friction and survive tidal dissolution, to build up the NSC. The analytic expression for this threshold mass allows us to model the nucleation fraction for populations of galaxies. We find that the slope and curvature of the initial galaxy size-mass relation is the most important factor (with the shape of the GC mass function a secondary effect) setting the fraction of galaxies that are nucleated at a given mass. The well defined skew-normal $f_{nuc} - M_{gal}$ observations in galaxy cluster populations are naturally reproduced in these models, provided there is an inflection in the {initial} size-mass relation at $M_{gal} \sim 10^{9.5} {\rm M_{\odot}}$. Our analytic model also predicts limits to the $M_{gal} - M_{GC,tot}$ and $M_{gal} - M_{NSC}$ relations which bound the scatter of the observational data. Moreoever, we illustrate how these scaling relations and $f_{nuc}$ vary if the star cluster formation efficiency, GC mass function, galaxy environment or galaxy size-mass relation are altered. Two key predictions of our model are: 1) galaxies with NSC masses greater than their GC system masses are more compact at fixed stellar mass, and 2) the fraction of nucleated galaxies at fixed galaxy mass is higher in denser environments. That a single model framework can reproduce both the NSC and GC scaling relations provides strong evidence that GC in-spiral is an important mechanism for NSC formation.Comment: 17 pages, 20 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Halpha Kinematics of S4G Spiral Galaxies - III. Inner rotation curves

We present a detailed study of the shape of the innermost part of the rotation curves of a sample of 29 nearby spiral galaxies, based on high angular and spectral resolution kinematic Halpha Fabry-Perot observations. In particular, we quantify the steepness of the rotation curve by measuring its slope dRvc(0). We explore the relationship between the inner slope and several galaxy parameters, such as stellar mass, maximum rotational velocity, central surface brightness ({\mu}0), bar strength and bulge-to-total ratio. Even with our limited dynamical range, we find a trend for low-mass galaxies to exhibit shallower rotation curve inner slopes than high-mass galaxies, whereas steep inner slopes are found exclusively in high-mass galaxies. This trend may arise from the relationship between the total stellar mass and the mass of the bulge, which are correlated among them. We find a correlation between the inner slope of the rotation curve and the morphological T-type, complementary to the scaling relation between dRvc(0) and {\mu}0 previously reported in the literature. Although we find that the inner slope increases with the Fourier amplitude A2 and decreases with the bar torque Qb, this may arise from the presence of the bulge implicit in both A2 and Qb. As previously noted in the literature, the more compact the mass in the central parts of a galaxy (more concretely, the presence of a bulge), the steeper the inner slopes. We conclude that the baryonic matter dominates the dynamics in the central parts of our sample galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Young, metal-enriched cores in early-type dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster based on colour gradients

Early-type dwarf galaxies are not simply featureless, old objects, but were found to be much more diverse, hosting substructures and a variety of stellar population properties. To explore the stellar content of faint early-type galaxies, and to investigate in particular those with recent central star formation, we study colours and colour gradients within one effective radius in optical (g-r) and near-infrared (i-H) bands for 120 Virgo cluster early types with -19 mag < $M_{r}$ < -16 mag. Twelve galaxies turn out to have blue cores, when defined as g-r colour gradients larger than 0.10 mag/$R_{\rm eff}$, which represents the positive tail of the gradient distribution. For these galaxies, we find that they have the strongest age gradients, and that even outside the blue core, their mean stellar population is younger than the mean of ordinary faint early types. The metallicity gradients of these blue-cored early-type dwarf galaxies are, however, in the range of most normal faint early types, which we find to have non-zero gradients with higher central metallicity. The blue central regions are consistent with star formation activity within the last few 100 Myr. We discuss that these galaxies could be explained by environmental quenching of star formation in the outer galaxy regions, while the inner star formation activity has continued